Diu, 10 August 2014

According to a report Diu island will have India’s first mega oceanarium at a cost of Rs. 50 lakh. The project will be executed in line with major international oceanariums, like Atlanta’s Georgia Aquarium, Dubai’s Mall Aquarium and Japan’s Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. Oceanarium is a large seawater aquarium in which marine animals are accommodated for study and public entertainment. A team from the Ministry of Earth Sciences had already visited the site for technical evaluation at the end of July. Diu administration will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the government.

The Indian government had in 2009 and decided to set up the oceanarium in the southern coastal city of Kochi. However, local people opposed the plan over security issues and forced the government to scrap its plan.

The construction work of oceanarium at Diu may take three years once everything is cleared.The government has recently earmarked the land to set up the oceanarium at Malala Village in the southern part of the Diu Island. The place is a rocky area 6-7m above the sea level. The Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology would make a final decision regarding the size of the oceanarium and the aquatic life it would house only after conducting a scientific study.